Durbin: Republicans Have Been Packing the Court for the Past Three-and-a-Half Years — ‘They Brag About It’

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Republicans have bragged about “packing the court” under President Donald Trump.

When asked if he will expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed in a clip, Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden said, “You will know my opinion of court-packing when the election is over. Look, the moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that. Other than focusing on what’s happening now.”

Anchor Chuck Todd said, “Senator Durbin, did the fact that Vice President Biden used the phrase court-packing, was that a tell of where the vice president stands on this, that he doesn’t want to see this happen?”

Durbin said, “I can tell you that we’re getting this question. It’s a common question being asked because the American people have watched the Republicans packing the court on bias the past three-and-a-half years and brag about it. They’ve taken every vacancy and filled it. They sent us, and we approved, only with their votes I might add, 10 people who have been judged unanimously unqualified by the American Bar Association. Do you know how many judicial nominees came from Obama, who was judged unanimously unqualified? None. So we are dealing with people on the court packed into the court with little or no qualifications who are going to be there for a long time. So it’s understandable. The Republicans raise the issue of court-packing.”

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